There are all sorts of bore lights. I just grab the cheap winchester marked ones from a local shop, under $10. I also have a 90' solid plastic one which you don't need a battery for, you just hold it up to a light source and it refracts the light through it. My issue with bore lights is losing them. I stay away from the ones that use small watch type batteries. A simple AA battery works fine. Other options is a white piece of paper in the chamber and shine my cell phone light on it. Whatever works when needed.

 

Likely similar to the Winchester mentioned above, my wife got me a Gunmaster bore light with 6" flexible shaft attached to the compartment holding a single AAA battery. Works great for a bit over $10. You can order it from Snakeland.

 

Snakeland? Doesn't show up on a search.

 

If you search Amazon there are a number of them available, small enough to fit the bore of a .22 caliber gun... 5.0 mm as best I recall. Have 5 little bitty LEDs in the head, plug into your cell phone or computer with mini-USB cable. Actually give you a pretty decent picture plugged into either, or at least mine does. Not a lot of money, most are $20 or less; think I paid $17 for mine. Now if I could just figure out where I put it, all would be righteous in the world. Last time I looked, I could not for the life of me find it.

 

I just use a regular small torch (flashlight). Held at the breech with my eye at the muzzle. Use a low power one, maybe one AAA or AA. If you use one too bright you just get glare and cant see any detail.

I also use the fingernail method for quick checks, but a torch is better.

 

I got one of these over 20 years ago. I use it on my Mag-Lite XL200. I don't know if they still make it.

I also have a few old USGI bore reflectors that I keep in my range bags.

 

I put a piece of white paper in the receiver to reflect light down the bore.

 

same here.

 

I have only been a firearms owner for 60 years, but I have never needed a bore light beyond the little pocket flashlight I keep on the workbench, mainly to chase down dropped screws...

 

Bore lights are really nice when you can find where you put it last! I always seem to lose them. I’ve used my phone light, with or without the back of a white business card. But a good bore light is really nice

 

I bought one of these.

Pardon our interruption...

www.ebay.co.uk

Download the app and you can fit it to your phone and view the inside of your barrel without any problems. You can even plug it into your laptop and take photos for your records.

 

Learned a trick from my gunshow friend.
He takes whatever flashlight is close and shines it on the face of the bolt.
less chance of being blinded by a shiny bore, and easier to do with a scope in the way....
I have all sorts of "bore lights", but since I learned this trick from Paul any light will do!

 

I've been shooting and cleaning firearms for close to 50 years now. About 15 years ago, I bought an expensive Hawkeye rigid borescope. Works for .22LR excellently also. It cost as much as a nice rifle back then. But, this has been one of the best investments in firearms and gun smithing I have ever made. I use it on all of my firearms and have learned a ton about cleaning and bore condition that a flashlight and fingernail will never reveal. The only downside is that I never got the extension to record my bore examinations on my computer.

 

How comprehensive do you want to be. And how much are you willing to spend on it?

Amazon and even Harbor Freight sell fiberoptic inspection cameras that can be threaded down into a bore. Many of them can be used for 25 cal on up. Some of these are contained units, and some attach to the cameras on cell phones.

Prices start at about 40.00 and go up from there, but you should be able to get a passable one that would serve as a bore scope for under 100.00. Just make sure it will fit inside the rifles you wish to examine.

 

Teslong rigid bore scope can be had for $50 to $100 off of Amazon.
They will show you what your bore looks like and not just have you guessing what is lurking half way down the barrel.
I bought one and it was well worth the money, just plug the USB into my chrome book, turn the camera function on and view away. You can capture pictures with it as well.
Just be forewarned you may see some stuff inside your barrel you wish you did not see, it is amazing how well some of my varmint rifles still shoot tiny groups with a throat that looks like a dry lake bed / alligator skin.
Valuable tool for examining the bore of a rifle you want to buy vs guessing if the bore just needs a good cleaning as well.

REK

 

Here are a couple of pictures that I took.
The 2nd one is the barrel of my Westernfield when I first bought it, super smooth with some carbon fouling.

 

That's impressive!

 

90' solid plastic one which you don't need a battery for
Or white paper held in the chamber, show the really 'bad' stuff. If you can't tell the lands from grooves, time to clean.

 

I'll just stick to flashlights, Lucite rods, paper, reflectors, etc. If I had a borescope, it would give me neurosis. I don't need to know what's left behind after a few solvent patches.

 

Wow , truly an illuminating topic. (had to). Thank you all for the responses. I believe I will get this one.

 

Wow , truly an illuminating topic. (had to). Thank you all for the responses. I believe I will get this one. View attachment 894305

FWIW, I have the same model as this only it's branded Remington. No difference just private labeled. Bought it over 10yrs ago when I couldn't find where I left the last one. Still on the same battery and works great.

I also use a Teslong bore scope which if you go that route, just know you might not think the same of certain rifles after viewing their bores. I have one that needs fire lapped and need to get to it.

Then again, we recently received our Criterion CL bbl's for a couple AR 15's, ran the Tesla bore scope through them and wow, they're spectacular!

Jack

 

Teslong, way better than any of the ones my smith has. You can download apps for smartphone or computer. Amazon puts them on sale from time to time.

 

Since you are going to do a thorough cleaning of the rifle, when you have the bolt out you can hold the receiver up to a light and look down the bore, which will give you as good a view of what is in there as a bore light.

~Kees~

 

As REK said in post #16, get a Teslong bore scope. It will reveal much more than just trying to look down the barrel using any kind of light. I bought one several years ago, and it's one of the best investments I ever made.